Many businesses, government agencies and other organizations employ dedicated communications systems (also referred to herein as “networks”) that enable computers, servers, printers, facsimile machines and the like to communicate with each other through a private network, and with remote locations via a telecommunications service provider. Such communications systems may be hard-wired through, for example, the walls and/or ceilings of a building using communications cables and connectors. Individual communications connectors (which are also referred to herein as “connector ports”) such as RJ-45 style modular wall jacks are mounted in offices and other work areas throughout the building (referred to herein as “work area outlets”). Communications cables provide communications paths from the work area outlets to network equipment (e.g., network switches, servers, memory storage devices, etc.) that may be located in a computer room.
A commercial data center is a facility that may be used to run the computer-based applications that handle the core electronic business and operational data of one or more organizations and/or to provide large numbers of users simultaneous, secure, high-speed, fail-safe access to their web sites run by such organizations. These data centers may host hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of servers, routers, memory storage systems and other associated equipment. In these data centers, fiber optic communications cables and/or communications cables that include insulated conductive wires are typically used to provide a hard-wired communications system that interconnects the data center equipment.
The cables and connectors in conductive wire-based communication systems that are installed in both office buildings and data centers typically include eight insulated conductors (e.g., copper wires) that are arranged as four differential pairs of conductors. Each differential pair may be used to transmit a separate differential information signal. These conductive wire-based communications systems typically use RJ-45 plugs and jacks to ensure industry-wide compatibility. Pursuant to certain industry standards (e.g., the TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 standard approved Jun. 20, 2002 by the Telecommunications Industry Association), the eight conductors in RJ-45 plug and jack connectors are aligned in a row in the connection region where the contacts of the plug mate with the contacts of the jack. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the front portion of an RJ-45 jack that illustrates the pair arrangement and positions of the eight conductors in this connection region that are specified in the type B configuration of the TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 standard, which is the most widely used configuration. As shown in FIG. 1, under the TIA/EIA 568 type B configuration, conductors 4 and 5 comprise differential pair 1, conductors 1 and 2 comprise differential pair 2, conductors 3 and 6 comprise differential pair 3, and conductors 7 and 8 comprise differential pair 4. Herein, a differential pair of conductors may be referred to simply as a “pair.”
In both office network and data center communications systems, the communications cables that are connected to network equipment (e.g., network servers, memory storage devices, network switches, etc.) and to work area outlets may terminate into one or more communications patching systems that may simplify later connectivity changes. Typically, a communications patching system includes one or more “patch panels” that are mounted on equipment rack(s) or in cabinet(s), and a plurality of “patch cords” that are used to make interconnections between patch panel and/or network switch connector ports. As is known to those of skill in the art, a “patch cord” refers to a communications cable that has a connector such as, for example, an RJ-45 plug, on at least one end thereof. A “patch panel” refers to an inter-connection device that includes a plurality (e.g., 24 or 48) of connector ports. Each connector port (e.g., an RJ-45 jack) on a patch panel may have a plug aperture on a front side thereof that is configured to receive the connector of a patch cord (e.g., an RJ-45 plug), and the back end of each connector port may be configured to receive a communications cable. Consequently, each RJ-45 connector port on a patch panel acts to connect the eight conductors of the patch cord that is plugged into the front side of the connector port with the corresponding eight conductors of the communications cable that is terminated into the back end of the connector port.
In a typical office network, “horizontal” cables are used to connect each work area outlet to the back end of a respective connector port on one of a first set of patch panels. In an “interconnect” patching system, a single set of patch cords is used to directly connect the connector ports on the first set of patch panels to respective connector ports on a set of network switches. In a “cross-connect” patching system, two sets of patch panels are provided, and standard patch cords are used to connect the connector ports on the first set of patch panels to respective connector ports on the second set of patch panels, while single-ended patch cords (which are also sometimes referred to as equipment cords) are used to connect the connector ports on the second set of patch panels to respective connector ports on the network switches.
The connections between the work area outlets and the network switches may need to be changed for a variety of reasons, including equipment changes, adding or deleting users, office moves, etc. In an interconnect patching system, these connections are typically changed by rearranging the patch cords that are connected between the first set of patch panels and the network switches. In a cross-connect patching system, the connections between the work area outlets and the network switches are typically changed by rearranging the patch cords that are connected between the first set of patch panels and the second set of patch panels. Both types of patching systems allow a network administrator to easily implement connectivity changes by simply unplugging one end of a patch cord and then plugging it into a different connector port.
So-called “intelligent” patching systems are now available that automatically track and log the connectivity between the connector ports on the network switches and the work area outlets each time the patch cord connections are rearranged. These intelligent patching systems typically use special patch panels and/or patch cords that employ sensors, radio frequency identification tags, serial ID chips and the like to detect patch cord insertions and removals and/or to automatically track patching connections. These systems may further include a plurality of controllers such as rack managers that control operation of the intelligent patching functionality. These controllers may be interconnected via a local area network, and one (or more) of the controllers may act as a master controller (referred to herein as a “network manager”). The network manager may also have a connection to an external controller and/or database such as a system manager computer.